Earlier this year, in a little remarked upon episode, the nation was exposed to how differently men and women politicians are treated in media. In September, Senator John McCain was showered with accolades after he voted against his party’s attempt to repeal Obamacare and urged his peers to espouse cross-party conciliation. McCain’s Johnny-Come-Lately stake in the ground came, however, in the wake of the consistent, longer-standing, and defiant intra-party opposition of two other Republican Senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who were motivated, in part by their pro-choice stance.

Activism in the form of editing and contributing to Wikipedia articles is a natural venue for women immersed in social media engagement. Using research skills that they have spent their lifetimes honing, women have the potential and opportunity to narrow massive gender and information gaps on Wikipedia and other information resources.

Rape threats and other sexualized vitriol online feel extremely personal. These are messages that often go into explicit detail about which parts of our bodies will be violated with which instruments. They give the impression that the senders know us, that they are aware of our particular weak spots and of what to say to […]

It was an assault rifle being fired in a pizzeria that signaled the severity of Facebook’s fake news problem. Call it Pizzagate – a right-wing conspiracy theory based on a baseless lie by 4chan. The rifle being fired was far from the only danger to employees and the owner of Comet Ping Pong – they’ve […]

Why it is only now that media is paying serious attention to anti-semitic harassment targeted at journalists?
Last week, the Anti Defamation League (ADL) issued a report detailing the rise in anti-Se...

Last Wednesday, the New York Times published an article in which 74-year old Jessica Leeds described Donald Trump, with whom she was sharing a flight 30 years ago, grabbing her breasts and attempting to put his hand up her skirt. One day later, one of Fox Business’ most popular hosts, Lou Dobbs, retweeted a tweet […]

I was never truly aware of sexism until I started working in sports media. In the 13 years I spent as an attorney, I saw and felt a lot of injustice, but it was the kind I recognized: preference based...

In May 2012, just before the anniversary of the ruling of the Constitutional Court that legalized abortion in Colombia in 2006, I was working as a communications officer in the offices of the NGO Wome...

In the eighth century BCE, Telemachus, Penelopeâs son, told his mother:
Mother, go back up into your quarters, and take up your own work, the loom and the distaff … speech will be the business of m...

The issue of online abuse is finally being taken seriously. In the past year, the subject has been discussed before the U.S. Congress, at the U.N., on the nightly news, and with surprising empathy and...

Five years ago, when I started my own business, I had no money for marketing. But I did have time and enough writing talent to use blogging to build backlinks to my business website, which also attrac...

Of everything Iâve written--and Iâve covered some pretty heavy, controversial topics--I donât think Iâve ever gotten as much blowback as when I advocated the amendment or repeal of Section 230...

When it comes to online violence against women, anonymity is a tricky subject. Imagine someone is looking for you online. Can they discover what neighborhood you live in, the places you frequent, you...

While anonymously perpetrated online abuse is common and frequently in the news, the reality is that in many cases, the perpetrator is someone the victim knows, and often, the harassment is a tactic o...

One of the most difficult aspects of online life for women is that when harassment happens it is rarely limited to one platform. Cross-platform abuse takes a particular toll.
I am not a typical examp...

September 8th
There is a man in my living room saying that feminists on a university campus âshould be shot to death and remaining survivors tied to a tree with their throats slit with a dull knife...

Interested in what experts think online harassment, as a socio-technical phenomenon, is all about? We've compiled a list of some of the best books, covering free speech, legal issues, social realities...